The rapid economic development of the People's Republic of China (“China”) after it opened up its economy in 1978 has been nothing short of phenomenal. The growing international attention being paid to rising economies in Asia, the proposed new trade routes in China's announced “One Belt One Road” programme, and the renewed energy with which the country is throwing its weight behind the forces of international trade in the face of an unexpected wave of protectionism from the US, signal the rising importance of the role of China in international commerce. The foreseeable increase in economic activities in the Asian region driven in large part by China will need support from legal services. Many of these economic activities are and will be cross-border in nature, and the resolution of disputes arising therefrom will call for the application of sophisticated rules of private international law.

The progress of private international law in China makes for a fascinating study in law and development. Unsurprisingly, private international law became a serious subject of academic study in the country only from 1978, and the academic research contributed significantly to the legal reforms in the country. Because of this late development, Chinese academics had extensively consulted foreign materials, from civil law as well as common law traditions. Gradually, China's own legal learning was also internationalised, with many Chinese academics writing for a foreign audience, including in the English language. Conflict of Laws in the People's Republic of China represents the next step forward, in consolidating much of the modern learning into a book. The book speaks with the authority of three Chinese law professors, one currently based in a UK university, and two others in universities in China. The book is written in – not merely translated into – English. The primary audience is clearly intended to be foreign lawyers and academics eager to learn about the subject. It fills a gap in English language publications, providing a consolidated perspective on the extensive modern developments in Chinese private international law, especially after the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Laws Applicable to Foreign Related Civil Relations (“Conflicts Act”) of 2010 which substantially renovated nearly the entire area.

The structure of the book follows the style of classical conflict of laws treatises, and will mostly be familiar to lawyers from both common law and civil law traditions. The book begins with a historical overview of the conflict of laws in China. There is a discussion of the laws in ancient as well as the early post-communist revolution times, which will no doubt be of interest to comparative legal historians. Most readers will be more interested in the second half of the chapter detailing the legal developments in the last three decades, explaining the modernisation of its private international law in the 1990s, and the second phase of modernisation represented by a number of key developments including the enactment in 2010 of Conflicts Act and the judicial interpretations of the Conflicts Act by the Supreme People's Court (“SPC”) beginning in 2012. The next part of the book deals with general questions (including characterisation, renvoi, incidental questions, proof of foreign law, mandatory rules and public policy). In this part the authors discuss the perspectives of scholars in China on the rationale for private international law, as well as the sources of law. This part is crucial in order for external readers to understand the technical operation of private international law in China. Although international treaties and national laws are obvious sources of law, the authors point out two other significant sources. One is the judicial interpretations by the SPC, which are authoritative formal pronouncements on the interpretations of and approaches to specific statutes; several have been handed down in the area of private international law. Another important source of law, given the existence of many gaps and ambiguities in the legislation, is case law. Thus, the book pays considerable attention to Chinese case law on the conflict of laws, which explains the long list of cases in the tables, and the considerable attention paid to case law in the text.

The chapters which then follow deal with familiar topics of private international law: jurisdiction, declining jurisdiction, procedure, recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments and arbitral awards, choice of law in contract, tort, unjust enrichment and negotiorum gestio, property and intellectual property. A special chapter deals with how interregional conflicts of law are approached in the country in view of the curious situation where there is no overarching judicial body with jurisdiction over the different legal systems of the mainland as well as Hong Kong SAR, Macau and Taiwan. The book concludes by picking up the themes of internationalisation, pragmatism, standardisation and modernisation that have affected the development of Chinese private international law, and the key challenges that it faces.

Many of the recent reforms were adapted from modern developments elsewhere, such as the idea of party autonomy and the concept of characteristic performance for contracts, the notion of forum non conveniens in jurisdiction, the primary role of the lex loci delicti for torts, and the use of residence as a personal connecting factor. Although private international lawyers outside China will find much in the book to be familiar, they will also find much materials in the book that are unique to Chinese law. For example, readers will find the discussions of party autonomy and characteristic performance in contract choice of law to be familiar, but are likely to be struck by the peculiarity that there is no provision in the law for inferred party choice of law. Similarly, readers are likely to be familiar with the discussions on the distinction between contractual and property issues in transactions relating to movables, but are also likely to be bemused by the employment of unrestricted party autonomy as a basic principle to determine the law applicable to movable property, possibly even to the detriment of third parties. These, and manifold other issues that are bound to arise in early iterations of codes, are discussed in a lively manner by the authors.

This book provides not only a concise description of the various aspects of Chinese conflict of law in civil and commercial law, but also a pragmatic perspective on the law in practice in the Chinese courts. The authors take a critical approach in explaining the law in its social and economic context, and explore constructive approaches where there are gaps or problems in the law. For example, the authors suggest the abandonment of the reciprocity requirement for the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments, and the restriction of party autonomy for issues of title to movable property. It is noteworthy that in discussing the problems associated with parties’ choice of forum, the authors predicted that China would sign the Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements, an outcome that came to pass when China became the second Asian country (after Singapore) to sign the Convention in September 2017. Much thought has also been put into the presentation of references to materials published in the Chinese language. In the text and references, they are presented in pinyin (romanised transliteration) and translated versions for ease of reading, while the tables and bibliography additionally provide the original Chinese ideographs for completeness of reference. However, a few eggcorns appear to have escaped the attention of the proof-readers, such as “jurisdiction” (“judicial”) at p. xiv, “course” (“cause”) at para. 10.01 and “literately” (“literally”) at para. 11.25. On the whole, these are minor and infrequent and do not detract from a highly readable work.

This book focuses on civil and commercial law to the exclusion of family matters (though a future book project on the latter is promised). For now, readers who need to dip into topics related to personal laws (ie, family and succession issues) may consult the nearly contemporaneous Private International Law in China (2016) by Tu Guangjian, which has greater coverage of topics but is on the whole more compact in its treatment.

It is fair to say that as the first book to be published under the banner of the Elgar Asian Commercial Law and Practice Series, Conflict of Laws in the People's Republic of China has given the series a running start. This book is a valuable resource for English-speaking academics and practitioners who are interested in the theory and practice of private international law in China. It has the potential to grow, with subsequent editions, into a leading treatise in the English language on Chinese private international law.